Friends conversing over a cup of Metric coffee while oohing and aahing over laminated pastries is a common scene at 3 Fold a bakery. The business opened Dec. 19 at the corner of Ridgeland and South.

Owned and operated by Sara and Dimitri Fayard, 3 Fold a bakery is a joint project between the married couple reflecting their 20-plus years of experience in pastry. Additionally, it marks Sara Fayard’s reentry into the pastry world after taking time off to care for her kids at home. 

“So I wanted to get back into doing something,” Sara Fayard said. “At that point, I decided that I maybe wanted to open something of our own.”

The bakery replaces the empty storefront previously held by Pieritz Brothers, an office and stationery store. The space was redone by Elements Architectural Group, the owners of the building, who collaborated with the Fayards to bring their dream space to life.

While the business was originally expected to open in early spring or late summer, they were forced to postpone. 

“Our permitting took a little longer than we had originally expected,” Fayard said. “I think that that’s very common, especially with something as large-scale as we have and then all the different facets.”

The bakery specializes in viennoiserie (French for “things from Vienna”), which is a type of baking in between pastry and bread that includes croissants. Croissants are “laminated,” in baking terminology, which means folding butter or fat between many thin layers of dough. The chefs at 3Fold make one croissant dough, which serves as the base of all of their products.

“We make the one dough and then by cutting that into different sizes and different shapes and having different fillings, that’s kind of how we come up with what dictates our menu,” Fayard said.

The bakery offers extensive seating with counter seating and tables available. There are also windows within the bakery that allow customers to see the products being made. Windows are part of what drew Fayard to the space.

“You don’t always get that working in kitchens,” she said. “Usually, it’s really dark and windowless.”

Popular pastries include the quiche croissant, which is an eggy mixture surrounded by croissant dough, and the raspberry and creme croissant, which comes in the traditional croissant shape with red stripes and filled with raspberry jam and a white chocolate whipped cream.

Fayard’s personal favorite product to eat is the almond croissant.

“It’s a regular croissant, but we dip it in syrup and then we fill it and bake it again, so it just gets really crispy and it’s sweet and just has great flavor,” Fayard said. “Plus, then you just get the whole aspect of the croissant along with it too.”

Customers like Amy Krefman have already returned multiple times. Her favorite pastry is the exotic croissant, a croissant with passionfruit and coconut filling.

“These are the best croissants I’ve had outside of Paris,” Krefman said.

Talia Treece, a first-time customer, loves the spacious seating at 3 Fold and the location of the bakery.

“I’m excited that it’s in a different area,” Treece said. “There’s not much around here.”

3 Fold a bakery, like other small businesses, plays an important role in Oak Park, said Michael Mertes, the economic vitality administrator for the Village of Oak Park. He advocated shopping locally.

“Over 60% of your money spent at a small independent retailer stays in the community whereas less stays in the community if it’s spent at a national brand store and almost none of that stays in the community if you buy it online,” Mertes said. “So that money gets recycled back into the community to fund improvements to the community.”

Sara Fayard is grateful for the community support that 3 Fold a bakery has received since opening.

 “One thing that we have just been completely overwhelmed by is the community support and everyone’s enthusiasm for us being here and for us to succeed,” Fayard said. “Especially on the weekend, there’s oftentimes a line and people are just always saying ‘We’re so excited that you’re here. We’re so excited that you’re busy’ instead of being annoyed that they had to wait for the product. They’re just really encouraging.”